When General Hospital viewers – and Luke Spencer – first caught sight of Holly Sutton, she was swimming – nude – in a pond (back when soaps still went to shoot on location). Where did she come from, fans wondered. Why, from underwater, of course!
Emma Samms Goes Under the Sea
In 1981, American viewers were treated to a two-part TV movie entitled Goliath Awaits. Intrepid Navy man Peter, played by Mark Harmon (onetime People Magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive) dives down into the wreckage of a luxury liner sunk during World War II (think Titanic, only with less excavation technology) – and sees the face of a beautiful young woman looking back out at him from a porthole.
That woman was played by Emma Samms. She was Lea, the daughter of the captain who went down with his ship…and somehow kept all the survivors and their descendants alive on the ocean floor for 40 years.
The Plot Thickens
Naturally, Samms and Harmon’s characters fall in love. And, naturally, her father, the captain, doesn’t want to lose the colony he’s ruled with an iron first for four decades. But, oh no, the ship is about to blow up any minute!
Isn’t it convenient that the technology worked just long enough for a Sexy Man to arrive and save the day? Lea decides to leave with Peter. Daddy doesn’t like that.
Also Starring
But Emma Samms isn’t the only waterlogged familiar soap face. Also starring in this gem are Frank Gorshin (best know as Batman’s nemesis, The Riddler, but also for a stint on The Edge of Night), as well as Warwick Simms, who ended up playing Holly’s evil cousin Basil once she put some clothes on and hit Port Charles.
As an added bonus, if you keep your eyes peeled, you should also be able to spot a tiny Kirk Cameron and a post-Green Acres Eddie Albert. Watch the trailer here and if you enjoy that tease, then you can watch the entire movie here.
General Hospital (GH) airs weekdays on ABC. Check your local listings for airtimes. For more about what’s coming up in Port Charles, check out all the latest that’s been posted on GH spoilers, and for an in-depth look at the show’s history, click here.
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